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Information For Undergraduate English Teaching MajorsThis page is for those who are pursuing a Bachelor's degree in English Teaching. This degree meets requirements for teaching certification for grades 6-12 in Idaho.
Contents:
Course Schedule Planning TipsCATALOG SELECTION When you apply to graduate, you will tell the Registrar which catalog year's requirements you have met. Graduation clerks will compare your transcript to the requirements of that catalog. You may choose any catalog from the past seven years, as long as you were a student during that academic year. Requirements sometimes change from year to year, so choose one catalog's set of requirements and follow those consistently. Don't rely only on course titles listed in the Schedule of Classes or on Broncoweb. Also, read the course descriptions in your catalog to see what the courses are about. For even more information, ask the instructor.
CORE CLASSES Teachers of all subjects need well-rounded knowledge, and the general education core classes help to provide you with this. English literature survey courses count toward both your core requirements and your English major requirements, as long as they are in British or American literature. (Eventually, you must have taken at least one British and one American lit course, but it is not required that your literature survey courses be both British and American since this requirement can also be met with upper-division courses.) ED-CIFS 201 Foundations of Education, which is required for entry into the education block I, can also be used as an Area II Core course. A science core course that we highly recommend is PHYS 100, section 003, with Dr.
Dykstra. This course demonstrates a model of learning through inquiry that
has useful applications in language arts, too. Its focus is on developing
conceptual understanding; there is no formal math in the course. If
possible, take the 1-credit companion, PHYSCI 297, section 003: Teaching and
Learning in Context. This course is about how and why Dr. Dykstra teaches
PHYS 100 the way he does.
UPPER DIVISION PLANNING By the time you reach junior level course work, you should map out your remaining courses by semester, with the final semester culminating in student teaching. Be sure to note in the catalog whether courses are offered during fall (F) or spring (S) semesters. By the time you get within one year of graduation, apply for graduation by filling out the application from the Registrar's Office. The registrar's graduation evaluators will evaluate your transcript against the requirements in the catalog that you have requested to follow. They send you their results, including a list of courses that they think you need in order to complete graduation requirements. You should compare their results to your own understanding of what you have left to take. If there are discrepancies, see your academic advisor.
Required English CoursesENGL 275 INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STUDIES should be taken soon after you have completed ENGL 102. It is an introduction to scholarly ways of reading and writing about literature, which should prepare you for your junior and senior-level literature courses. ENGL 275 is a prerequisite for all upper-division literature courses. LING 305 INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE STUDIES should be taken as soon as possible since it is a prerequisite for other linguistics courses, and because it is a course that fills up quickly. Students who put off LI 305 may face scheduling problems later as they try to work further linguistics courses around internships and student teaching schedules. You may enroll in LI 305 anytime after you have completed E 102. If you don't get into this course the first semester you try, keep trying in subsequent semesters until you get in. ENGL 301 TEACHING ENGLISH COMPOSITION. This course is about how to teach writing, especially to adolescents. This course is taught in a combined time period with ENGL 481 in a two-class time slot (usually Tuesday and Thursday early mornings). You will take both courses together so that the teaching of writing and the teaching of literature can be integrated and field trips to schools will be possible. ENGL 481 LITERATURE FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL. You will read (or re-read) samples of the literature that is taught in secondary schools, including fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction, and learn some approaches and techniques for teaching literature in secondary school English. This course is taught in a combined time period with ENGL 301 (usually Tuesday and Thursday early mornings). You will take both courses together so that the teaching of writing and the teaching of literature can be integrated and field trips to schools will be possible. ENGL 381 ENGLISH TEACHING is offered in both fall and spring semesters. It is the main "how to teach secondary school English" teaching methods course. In this course you will construct a unit plan containing lesson plans. Take this course at the same time you take ED-CIFS 401 (block II) and ED-LTCY 444 Content Literacy, after you have completed block I. If you are meeting catalog requirements prior to 2000, you should enroll for ED-CIFS 401 when you register for ENGL 381 so that you will have a classroom internship at the same time you take this course. ED-CIFS 401 will substitute for the required ENGL 493 Teaching Internship. English Electives
Electives Outside of EnglishCourse work in academic minor fields that are related to English (such as theatre, reading, speech, journalism, or history) can be a useful enhancement of knowledge and teaching preparation. Teacher education courses will count toward the total number of required university credits. Credits earned toward an academic minor or a minor teaching certificate are considered electives. English and linguistics courses that you take beyond the courses you use to meet English degree requirements may be used to meet university electives. If you plan to teach English language arts and/or reading at the middle level (grades 6-8), as soon as you have begun to teach you MUST take the state required Idaho Comprehensive Literacy course, or at least to take and pass the exam. (Unfortunately, so far the focus of this course is only on early literacy at primary levels, but we hope the course will eventually become more "comprehensive.") If you know that this is the grade level for you, we advise you to take this course now if you have room in your schedule.
Education CoursesIn order to take the required upper-division Education courses, you must be admitted to the Teacher Education Program. Normally, you apply near the beginning of your first semester as a junior. Do these things to get admitted:
Upon being admitted to the Teacher Education Program, you will enter the education "blocks." The "blocks" refer to three semesters in which some courses are clustered or blocked together as co-requisites, including time spent working in secondary schools. Block I Block I is intended to be taken the second semester of your junior year (assuming you are on a four-year graduation schedule). Take these courses at the same time:
For the teaching experience internships you will be assigned to a school and mentor teacher. Your job is to assist the teacher in teaching tasks that typically begin with routines like taking roll, giving quizzes, marking papers, and working with individual students or small groups as they do assignments. Gradually you will take on more and more of the teaching responsibilities until during student teaching you will take over the teaching completely for a designated number of weeks. For the block I internship, you will work in the school for a minimum of 50 hours, which is 3 to 4 hours per week. Some of your time spent at home preparing or marking papers may be counted toward the 50 (no more than 10 hours), but travel time does not count.
Block II Block II is intended to be taken the first semester of your senior year, the semester after Block I. If all is well, you will continue working with the same teacher and secondary school that you had for Block I. For Block II, take these courses at the same time:
Block III (Student Teaching) Block III is intended to be taken the second semester of your senior year, after Block II. If all is well, you will continue working with the same teacher and secondary school that you had for Block II. For student teaching, you sign up for:
· This is student teaching, a full-time commitment. Take no other courses this semester if possible, and take a hiatus from any jobs you might have. Remember that your teaching career depends on getting an excellent letter of recommendation from your cooperating teacher. Student teaching is not the place to cut corners.
(Block IV) You may see references to a Block IV, which means a second student teaching experience for students who do dual student teaching, like P. E. majors who earn K-12 certification and must student teach both in elementary and secondary school settings. Most English Teaching Majors do not do Block IV. Successful student teaching in junior high or middle school will qualify you to apply for high school English teaching jobs, and visa versa.
Questions and AnswersQ: What does "Professional Year Teaching Experience" mean? A: Some College of Education materials refer to the "Professional Year." The "professional year" simply refers to the Block II semester together with Block III, which is the student teaching semester. The phrase is intended to convey the idea that in the final year of college, students should intensify their preparation to enter the teaching profession, particularly by intensifying their internship experiences. However, you might not necessarily take these blocks during a calendar year, especially if you student teach in the fall, and it is possible that Blocks II and III may not be consecutive if you take a semester between these blocks to complete other course work. In addition, for all practical purposes, in secondary teaching the professional experience begins with Block I, so it's really a professional year and a half if you do the blocks consecutively.
Q: How do I get placed for my Block I teaching experience? A: The Director of Field Placements in the College of Education (E-222) will use your Application for Admission to Secondary Education Courses and Placements to locate a teaching placement for you. If you have a preference for a particular teacher or school, or if you have circumstances that constrain your placement (like transportation problems), make a note on the form or attach a memo to it when you turn it in. You may not get your placement preferences. BSU always has a lot of students to place, and it is a big, complicated job to locate teachers who would like to work with an intern, in a school whose principal and other teachers would like to have our interns. Be patient, and make the most out of wherever you land.
Q: Can I make my own placement? A: No. Never arrange your own student teaching placement. It's a very different situation if the university requests that you work in a particular school than if you do it yourself. Teachers may not feel free to decline when you ask them yourself. The principal wants to hear from only one official person at Boise State regarding all internship placements in his or her school, and you are not that person. Also, Boise State may be making other requests for that school, and you have no way of knowing about those. So make your requests through the Field Placement Director.
Q: Can I be placed in the Professional Development School for English teaching? A: Some English teaching interns will be selected for block I placement in a school with a more intensive working partnership with BSU's English Education program. The teaching internships in this school are supervised by English Education faculty and may offer a broader variety of teaching experiences than traditional placements. If you are interested, see Dr. Robbins or Dr. Wilhelm in the English Department.
Q: What if my cooperating teacher does not teach like I will? A: They probably won't. But that doesn't mean that you cannot learn a lot from them anyway, and learn what works for you as you work with that teacher's students. Remember, though, that the classroom is the teacher's and not yours (yet), so make sure that the teaching approaches you take in this classroom will fit in with what the teacher is doing, even if you might not do it this way yourself. Learn from it, even if it's learning what doesn't work. Your time will come.
Q: May I take both Block I and Block II in the same semester? A: Although blocks I and II require only 8 credits each, and conceivably a student could handle 16 credits in a semester, the block program assumes you should have internships of increasing intensity across three semesters. Most students who have asked to double up on the blocks have not been allowed to do so. However, if you think that your situation is exceptional, consult the Placement Director or the ED-CIFS department chair.
Q: I am following pre-2000 catalog requirements. What education courses do I take? A:
Q: What happened to the English Teaching Portfolio requirement from the pre-2000 catalog requirements? A: The English Teaching Portfolio Review is no longer required for any English teaching student. You need do nothing about this English requirement since the graduation transcript analysts know that this requirement has been deleted.
Q: Are there standards in teacher education that I must meet? A: Yes. Just as there are state achievement standards for secondary school students, there are standards for new teachers to meet. Some of these are broad, general principles that all teacher education students must meet, such as knowledge of adolescent development and understanding of pedagogical approaches like direct instruction or use of small groups. In addition, there are standards specific to English teaching; for example, you must show that you can integrate writing and reading instruction, and that you understand how language changes over time and is socially embedded. You will have opportunities to meet these standards in your course work and in your internships.
Q: What is a Teacher Work Sample? A: One of the things that the standards require is that you show that you can use your knowledge of English and of teaching so that your teaching actually results in student learning. During your block II and student teaching (block III) internships, you will plan instruction, teach it, collect the assessment results from your students and analyze them to see if they show what or how well your students have learned. Assessment results are as likely to show you that something needs to be re-taught as that something was achieved, but either way, you must demonstrate that you know how to assess student knowledge and performance, and that you know how to consider the results as a "reflective practitioner" who can see what to do next. So the "work sample" usually is a copy of your lesson plan, a short description of how the lesson went, samples of student work or assessment data, and your analysis (reflection) of the data (including your observations of the students and what you think they learned--or didn't--and why).
Student TeachingDuring student teaching you will gradually take over all responsibilities for classroom instruction. As you become well established, your cooperating teacher leaves the room and for a few weeks you become the teacher, including preparation, teaching, and grading for all of the teacher's classes. You will put together a portfolio of work samples that show some results of your teaching along with your ability to be a reflective practitioner. In the end, the cooperating teacher writes a letter of evaluation that becomes the centerpiece of your job application file. You must apply to student teach by completing the application to the Professional Year and submitting it to the Office of College School Partnerships and Field Experiences, E-222. You must also register for student teaching credit. If you do not enroll for student teaching in the semester for which you have applied, you will have to reapply. Student teaching is a full-time commitment. If possible, take no other courses during your student teaching semester, and take a hiatus from any jobs you might have. Remember that your teaching career depends on getting an excellent letter of recommendation from your cooperating teacher. Student teaching is not the place to cut corners. Student Teaching PlacementsThe College of Education handles all aspects of student teaching, including placement. It is likely that you will continue to work with your block II teacher if conditions allow that. If you need to change, see the Director of Field Placements. You may make specific placement requests, though there is no guarantee that your request can be granted. Placements are also based on availability of cooperating teachers and administrative decisions.
Q: Should I do a single or dual option for student teaching? A: Probably single, not dual option. For purposes of certification or job application in secondary schools, the single option experience is sufficient even if you student teach in a high school and seek a junior high job or visa versa. Dual option student teachers work in two placements, for approximately eight weeks in each setting. Students who elect the dual option are usually those who desire teaching experience in two different school subjects and feel that they need teaching experience in both areas in order to be employable. (English in combination with a modern language might be an example.)
Q: Can I student teach during the summer? A: As a rule, no. The student population in summer school is very abnormal; usually it consists of the lowest achieving students who need to make up failed credits, and the highest achieving students who want to make more room in their school year schedule for extra electives. Often the middle of the bell curve is missing, along with normal school culture of a school year. This kind of student teaching experience could compromise your readiness to begin teaching in a normal school situation, and it might also appear to be a disadvantage to an administrator examining your job application in comparison to someone who has student taught during the regular school year. Besides, in summer there aren't as many classes in which you could be placed. Another complication is that for student teachers who need 16-week student teaching experiences, summer school may be too short. However, secondary school summer school programs do exist, and they usually offer some English classes, so a few student teaching placements could be made. To be placed in summer school, students should have plenty of solid experience during the regular school year in their internship experiences, be strong teaching candidates who won't be compromised by the atypical summer circumstances, and be able to present a compelling reason why they cannot student teach during the regular school year. Requests to student teach during the summer should be made to the Director of Field Placements in the College of Education.
Q: Who supervises me during student teaching? A: The College of Education will assign a university supervisor to periodically observe and evaluate your teaching. (English Education faculty supervise in the language arts "professional development school" site, which is currently West Junior High in Boise.) But your main supervisor is your mentor teacher.
Q: What are my requirements for student teaching? A: Student teaching requirements and procedures are described in a handbook available from the Director of Field Placements in the College of Education and online at: http://education.boisestate.edu/handbooks.htm/
Q: Can I take a university course while I am student teaching? A: Before student teaching, you should complete all of your course work so that you can concentrate your full energy and attention on successful student teaching performance. So we advise you NOT to take a course while student teaching. However, if necessary, you can be allowed to take an evening course during student teaching as long as the course is not fundamental to your teaching success (as ENGL 301, 381, and 481 are). Consider that your priority will be successful student teaching, which requires a great deal of time and energy. You must be willing to put your course work after this, and the quality of your course work may be at risk. If you must take a class, consult the instructor and work ahead if possible.
Q: How long does student teaching last? A: If you are following catalog requirements since 2000-2001, you will student teach for the whole semester, 16 weeks. If you are following catalog requirements prior to 2000-2001, you will student teach for 10 weeks, either the first ten weeks of the semester or the last ten weeks. If your mentor teacher agrees, however, we advise you to work in your teacher's classroom longer than the minimum ten weeks in order to gain more experience and to give yourself more time to hone your teaching skills-and even to give your mentor teacher more good things to put into your evaluation letter.
Q: Can I withdraw from student teaching? A: Yes, if you decide to withdraw early enough. As a professional courtesy, six weeks' notice should be given to your mentor teacher and school prior to the beginning date of your student teaching assignment so that they know in plenty of time not to expect you. Other withdrawals follow university guidelines, but are strongly discouraged because of the commitments that student teaching implies. The Director of Field Placements also has the right to withdraw you from an internship setting if your professional performance is deemed a potential liability for yourself or others. Procedures for non-voluntary withdrawal allow you a chance to tell your side of the story.
Q: Do I need to pass the Praxis II test? A: Yes. As of spring 2003, the State Board of Education requires all those who request a teaching certificate in English to take the Praxis II English subject matter test, #0041. It is a multiple-choice exam with questions about works of literature, writing and rhetoric, and language and linguistics. The passing score is 158 or better. If you do not pass the first time, you may re-take the exam, but you will not have final approval to student teach until you have passed. The test costs about $70. Register to take the test at the Testing Center, Education Building 6th floor, where they have the test dates posted. Take the test early during your block II semester.
Extra-curricular ActivitiesSchool principals and personnel directors do not look exclusively at grades when they hire teachers. The activities that prospective teachers have been involved with may show extra expertise and a well-roundedness often valued in hiring. For more information regarding the many opportunities for extra-curricular activities at Boise State, check at the Student Activities desk in the Student Union Building. When schools hire teachers, they often look for people who can supervise extra-curricular activities as well as teach classes. Consider getting involved in activities that interest you. Obvious choices include student government, drama, debate, or music performance, but there are also school clubs for such things as chess, skiing, or rodeo. If you can coach a sport, your versatility may look more valuable in the job market. Being a player in the sport is good, but if coaching appeals to you, consider earning the Coaching Endorsement offered by the Department of Kinesiology. English Majors Association/Sigma Tau Delta
Essay Contest Judging
Working with adolescents
Publishing some of your writing
Related Work Experience
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